He Waited
by Tanzen
Summary: Formerly "Misconceptions and Pride" This takes place 15 years after Lily is Murdered. Logan and Veronica haven't spoken in 5 years and she has a secret. Logan runs in to her at the store in Neptune. Read and see.
1. Chapter 1

**HI! I was re-watching some episodes and I am a huge Veronica and Logan fan and I wanted to give them a story**

** So, I did**. **This is it, I will probably do a second chapter. I hope you like it. I don't own anything, this **

**is just my own imagination of what I want the character to do. **

Chapter One:

Large Blue Eyes and a Sassy Smile

He saw her from across the store. She looked lovely, more than that, amazingly content with her life. That was something he hadn't seen since before the death of her best friend. Her hair was as blonde as ever, it had natural waves that any other women would be jealous of and it went to her mid-back. She wore a pair of dark skinny jeans and a black blazer with the sleeves rolled up and a green v-neck t-shirt. She looked so grown up, so much different from the broken, defensive and sarcastic girl he once knew. He decided that she didn't need those old memories that he kept so close it almost killed him every night since the last time he saw her, she looked happy.

He watched her laugh with her father as they went up and down the aisle. She must have been in town visiting, same as him, except she had actual people who loved her to visit, while he has ghosts and memories to keep him comfortable. He only came back to his childhood home here once a year and that was October, to commemorate the loss of everything and how he had moved on, but he hadn't. He would visit the graves of Lily and Lynn, drink too and much maybe catch up with Dick over a guy's night. Every time he would go to the house he would get settled and decide that he couldn't handle it a check-in to his usual suit at the Neptune Grand, it was more of a home than his childhood house was even after he had every room gutted and made-over, the memories still lingered.

Dick was married and had a 6 year old daughter and another on the way. Mac and he married a year after college, when finally realized how compatibly incompatible they were. Zara followed two years after. The last time he saw her was at Zara's christening, they were her Godparents.

She was living somewhere on the East Coast, as a FBI profiler. A job she quickly got right out of college due to her success as an intern and her impressive resume at 22. He hadn't heard much but he knew that she looked happy, well from what he could tell at least. It just didn't seem to be in the stars that they run into each other until today.

He was looking at the wine weather or not to go expensive or cheap. He was leaning toward cheap because he actually preferred the taste although he would never admit it, but he felt like maybe since it had been 15th anniversary since his life had taken a turn for the worst, that he should celebrate. This made him chuckle to himself darkly. 15 years since Lily's death he thought, where would he be if he she hadn't been killed by his father? He wondered, it was a question that he thought about a lot, but it could make you crazy thinking about what ifs and he had spent the better part of those 15 years thinking about this and that girl that he was carefully avoiding. He vowed to protect her a long time ago and he would keep that promise even if it meant staying away.

He suddenly realized he was being watched. She turned to see a pair of large blue eyes staring at him. Those eyes looked to familiar. It was a little girl around the year of 5 with wavy light reddish-brown hair. He smiled at her and waved. She gave him a sassy grin, a grin he knew too well. Before he could ask, he heard a familiar frantic voice. "LILA! WHERE AR-"she stopped mid-sentence and started at him in dumb silence, they were at an impasse. He smiled his crooked smile, she knew was only for her, which made her blush because it had been a long time since anyone looked at her like that. "Veronica." He said plain a simple. "Logan."She replied

"Mommy, he is boy from the pictures," whispered the little girl pulling on Logan's jacket, which instantly brought them back to reality. Logan looked at Veronica inquisitively, "Pictures, keeping tabs on me Ms. Mars?" He said with his quintessential Logan voice. Veronica had no idea how to respond her usual smart quips and comebacks were legendary but the sight of her former lover, caught her more off guard then their first kiss or more than she ever had been. Logan would be lying if he said that he hadn't kept tabs on her. He followed her cases and checked up on her but how could he have not know about the little girl holding on to his jacket with her blue eyes staring at him knowingly? Because Veronica Mars didn't want him to know.

To save the day Keith Mars, rounded the corner, shocked to see a one Logan Echolls being held by the jacket by his granddaughter. He quickly recovered and greeted Logan with unexpected warmness, "Logan, it is so good to see you!" he said and shock his hand. "Likewise, Sheriff Mars," Logan said without a hint of sarcasm. Even though they were quite icy toward one another in the past, Keith knew how much he loved Veronica and he couldn't vault him for that and he knew that he would never intentionally hurt her. Keith grew to respect Logan and even on occasion share a beer with him when he was in town because he knew that Logan even with all his faults grew in to a nice man, filled with goals and dreams willing to be accomplished. "I will just go check out, you guys look like you have some catching up to do. Lila, care to join me?" "Sure, Papa," the little girl said as she skipped away with her grandpa.

"V," he said with a breath, "you look beautiful, motherhood and the East Coast suit you well."

"Thanks," she smiled, "I know you are not doing too bad yourself Mr. Echolls, Academy Award Nominee for best original screenplay." He blushed, she snickered because Logan Echolls never blushes.

"Shucks," he said regaining his composer with thickly laid sarcasm, which made her heart ache even more. "So, the fearless Veronica Mars is a mommy."

"Yes, I am, with a nice cushy desk job at the Quantico, but every day is a mystery, she keeps me on my toes, like I am sure I did to my dad." She could tell already he did the math by the sad smile he wore. That smile was reserved for when he knew something that she was supposed to tell him but hadn't. This was a big secret and she felt guilt every time she looked at her daughter, but at that time Logan was still falling apart. An unexpected pregnancy from a one night stand was not going to make it better or would it have? She can't say because he looked fine know with his critically acclaimed success and seemingly normal life according to the tabloids. She kept forgetting that Logan grew up in the limelight so he knew how to play for the cameras.

She could tell he was missing something. Maybe this was it, she missed him, god did she miss him. She has started to get back in the dating world about a year and a half ago but nobody was good enough or compared to the boy who went in gun blazing hell bent on saving and protecting her at any cost. But in all honesty who could compete with that?

It had been so long ago when they both had broken up, that she barely remembered. But he did clear as day. It was like a sharp knife in the gut every time he thought of her. They finally called it quits after graduation of college because Veronica liked to run away from things that she wanted. She was a masochist that way and Logan knew that running after her would just push her way so he left her to run wild. When she came back for the Mac and Dick's Wedding and Wallace's first NBA game and his eventual marriage to Jackie, they would hang out get a little drunk and have sex and call it a mistake the next morning when they caught each other sneaking out.

That last time was different because they knew things had change, they both where on the track of success and knew that life was taking them in different directions but they desperately wanted to be on the same was the christening of Zara, they were the Godparents, which they both felt was a little ironic because they had both been less than Godly in their youth. They somehow ended up in bed together. When Veronica went back to her dad's that morning she cried in the shower to mask the noise. She gladly went back to her apartment in New York, where she was living at the time,to forget about the night but instead she cried herself to sleep.

Logan went to the bottle, he passed out and his maid found him the next morning on the floor sleeping in his own vomit. Veronica read about it the next day, when she found out she was pregnant she knew he couldn't handle it. Logan knew that if he ever had a shot in hell with her he need to cleanup is act at least his public act and be more careful.

They were both too proud to admit that they wanted and need each other. Which lead them here, 5 years later in a grocery store with a secret that was about to be exposed.

"We should talk." She and he said at the same time.


	2. Chapter 2

**I know it took me a really long time to update, but that is okay because I did eventually.**

**I hope you like it. I don't know if I will continue, it seems almost complete. **

**Enjoy.  
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She was coming over and he was panicking. There was something about Veronica Mars that turned him from sarcastic and assured to mushy and confused in seconds. He decided that he liked the kitchen better at his house then in the suite at the Grand. So, he had her come over there. He wished he could show her the house he built with her in mind in Oregon where he spent most of his time. It was modest for a multi-millionaire. It was located in a small mountain town that's main industry was mining and forestry. They loved him, not only because he donated to the community but he was actively engaged in it. The town was quiet and peaceful unlike Neptune.

It was place to escape and do his work. He never liked LA there was too much going on, he was always tracked down and people always wanting a piece of him. Being young and Hollywood royalty with a scandalous background makes you a hot commodity. This was why he liked writing better, the limelight never seemed to fit him and he never enjoyed unlike his sister or his father. He tried acting for a while a few indy-movies with critical acclaim that would have guaranteed him success as an actor but he hated it. It reminded made him too much like his father, which drove him to writing and directing. He wrote a few Indy scripts again having some acclaim and so far three major motion pictures with a fourth on the way. At 29, he was one of the youngest people nominated for Best Original Screenplay. Now at, 31 he was critically acclaim writer and a budding star director.

It was hard for Veronica not to keep tabs on him. He was everywhere last year. The papers, the radio and TV had interviews running about him the whole Oscar season. He never seemed to comment on his love life although he did slip up once and say he let one get away. She would have to be dumb not to know it was her. She almost called him a thousand times to tell him about Lila, the perfect little girl that was more than she deserved. He missed her first steps, words and day of school, and that was all her fault. To try to make up for the guilt, she told her stories upon stories about the boy in the pictures and the man in the newspaper, but she left out the most important detail that the man was her father.

She found out about 4 weeks after Mac and Dicks wedding and seen the start of Logan's decline, or what she thought was a decline and decided it was best not to tell him. Dick was the hardest to convince out of all of her friends, but he knew that Logan could quickly fall down the path of his father if too much was put on him. They both know that Logan would convince himself that he had ruined Veronica's dreams and would slowly descend into darkness of failing to protect her. Veronica couldn't stand to see that their child be put into that position when she viewed quite the opposite. She really couldn't say that she might have resented Logan for trying to fix things by marring her and putting too much of a burden on himself or if they would have survived.

There she stood in the guest bedroom of her father's small house that he shared with Alicia, Wallace's mother, trying to figure out what to wear, while Lila sat on her bed telling her mother she had nothing to wear. Veronica sighed, "Lie, I really don't have anything to wear do I."

"Maybe you should have packed better? I brought my pink dress because you never know! Maybe, Nana has something for you?" She smiled at her mom which made Veronica laugh, god they were so much a like she knew this was going to be a problem in 10 years. Nana was what she called Alicia, Veronica couldn't argue Alicia had been more or a grandmother and mother to them both in the past 15 years then her biological mother had.

"Maybe," she thought about it but then she remembered all her old clothes where in the attic, "Come baby-doll, I have a plan." Lila grabs hold of her hand and they went in to the attic. She found the box right away. It was filled with sweaters and jeans that would no longer fit. Until she came across a dress, it was dark blue and it had a sweet-heart neckline. It was very simple and understated. She couldn't remember where she bought it or got it for but it fit and that is all she cared about.

After she was ready to go and Lila told her she was beautiful and to be safe, she was on her way. She honestly could not believe how much a like they were. Lila got in trouble a lot in school; she was the defender of the weak, which even as a 5 year old got her into some fights. The entire teaching staff loved her because she was so smart and lovely but she had a wild side and a smart mouth that was hard to stifle and got her in trouble, so Veronica tried to harness it in sports and dance but it hardly worked, she was simply Lila a mixture of sassy sweet and naïve self-assurence.

Veronica is sporadically driving to his house. She speeds up when she gets nervous and slows down when her confidence is broken by thinking about how on earth she is going to explain it all to him. She pictures his face, sad and hurt by the fact that she could trust him. It was just the opposite she didn't want to destroy him and she feared it would even now because she hadn't told him.

He paced, rethinking his decision for her to come to this house, the one that was filled with ghosts, memories and regrets. He wanted an explanation, to yell at her and to hold her close and never let her go. He needed to know why, she kept this secret and if his suspicions were correct. She just had to be his, right? She was the right age and had is hair and his nose, but when he thought about it he couldn't help but think of the fact that she didn't tell him. That fact alone made him wants to cry, scream, yell and laugh because it was so typically Veronica. She was so content with helping everyone else with their problem but she would let anyone else carry the burden of her problems.

He sighed because it would drive him to the brink of insanity if he kept thinking about why she did thing she did. He would never understand and she would never tell him.

Meanwhile in his drive way, Veronica sat in her rental car, she was shaking. She had got their 15 minutes early thanks in part to her manic driving and her mom-like need to be on time for everything. This strongly reminded her of the day after altra-prom. She had sat in the car for 30 minutes be for counting to ten and marching up to Logan's room to tell him she felt the same way. Now, she sits in the drive way of his long lost home, contemplating away to explain his daughter without sounding cruel and untrusting.

She finally got out of the car and made her way to his house. She couldn't remember the last time she was here it felt like decades, probably because it was at least a decade since. Logan had a weird habit of never sleeping or staying here, which is understandable because of everything that has happened here. She stood at the door for 2 minutes still doubting what she was wearing, even though Alicia, her dad and Lila all insisted she looked fine. She never cared this much about her looks, especially when she was seeing Logan. He had seen her at her lowest lows and highest eyes, as well as, she had seen his.

She wore the simple dark blue dress with a crème hoodie/cardigan thing, strappy, flat, gold sandals and her twisted up in a clip. She didn't want to overdo, but she somehow felt overdressed. She rang the doorbell.

She heard clattering as Logan rushed to the front door although he stopped for a couple seconds to collect himself to open the door. She smirked at least she wasn't the only one who was nervous. He was wearing nice jeans and a green stripped dress shirt tucked into his jeans with the sleeves rolled up. He looked nice.

"You look lovely," he blurted out; she could almost hear him chastising himself, in his head, after he said it. Veronica whispered quick thanks and slowly walk in. The house was completely different from how she remembered it. It no longer had any hint of Aaron or even Lynn in it; in fact it barely looked lived in. It looked straight out of a catalog. "Your house is beautiful, Logan. It is so different" She said.

He smiled, "Thanks." Logan was glad she was here he already felt relaxed. She radiated home for him and he missed that. This house is big and empty and was in no way shape or form a home.

Both of their nervous twitches and habits where out in spades to night. Veronica was biting her lip when she wasn't speaking or drinking wine. While Logan drummed his hands on his legs and if it wasn't for the rolled up sleeves, his hands would have been hiding in them.

The night was a rocky start, as it should be, how do you tell someone they are a father and have been one unknowingly for 5 years? They made their way to the kitchen to have some sort of pasta dish that Logan insisted on making and gave is trusted insistent/maid, Jen, the night off. It was horrible; they laughed about it and joked about how his cooking had gotten worse over the years. Small talk was light but they could feel the wait of the past coming over them like a rainstorm about to hit. She began with:

"I need you to know, that I am sorry, I meant to call you, it hurt me every day you missed and that was my fault. I am so sorry. After I returned home I read about your alcohol poising in the paper and about 4 weeks after that I found out. I was pregnant and I hadn't been with anyone but you in about the past year. Before you say anything, there is severe lack of good men in Virginia. They are either FBI tools or married. But that is beside the point. I am so sorry, I didn't tell you. I guess it is my stupid need to not take help. I didn't tell anyone until I was 5 months, when I really started to show. I had to tell my dad, Mac and Wallace. I swore them to secrecy and Dick didn't know up until a year ago that she was-" She looked at him for the first time since starting this rant. He had a sad smile on his face and his nervousness was showing, his hands were doing a strange combination of drumming is fingers on his legs and clenching and unclenching his fists. She grabbed his hands to make him stop.

"Logan," She said forcing him to look her in the eye, "Lila is yours. I am so unbearably sorry, I hurt you this way. It seems that I am always hurting you in one way or another. You are always trying to protect me when it is me who should be protecting you." Veronica kissed his hands; she looked up at his face to find an unexpected smile. He smoothed her hair away from her face. He kissed her forehead and she started to sob, "I am sorry…" she wasn't making sense after the 5th 'I am sorry,' she was just sobbing uncontrollably. His shirt now was soaked and had stains of mascara where her eyes were.

"Veronica," she wouldn't look at him, "hey Veronica, look at me." She turned up word to see his sad eyes, which made her heart ache even more.

"Listen," he began as his voice cracked, her crying always had caused him physical pain. "honestly, Veronica, I don't really care about the past, but I know it is gonna come up in some fight again and again. If you felt that I was going to be like your mother and if I thought for a second that I would be like my father, I would disappear because you would better off without me, but you need to trust me I am not.

I know you have a problem with asking for help, you always have. All I care about is now right now. You here with me is like an answer to a prayer. I knew that the only way I could possibly have you was to let you go and let you be. You choosing me would be on your terms and yours alone. My job was to wait for the call, the one I need. The call that would allow me to be with you, because I know as much as you did that you weren't going to have me unless you were sure or me and us. Here it is right now. Veronica, I am able, willing and desperately wanting you to let me in and help you. I need to be a part of her life and your life. I need a family, I have been in need of one since the first time Aaron slapped me across the face."

He was crying now too. She was one of the only people he let see him cry and the only person he would let hold him while he sobbed.

"I love you," he said breathlessly in her ear, "ever since I met you and I realized it the first time and I punched a guy's lights out trying to protect your honor." She smiled thinking about that day at the Camelot, the day they first kissed and that it wouldn't be the last time he punched someone for her.

"I love you, so much, I hope you know that. I know I haven't said the words, ever, but I do and I have for a very long time. It takes having your child, and because I have child I say I love you to everyday. It makes me sick to think that is what it took for me to actually tell. For 12 years I have wanted to say it to you and you never pressed, why?" Veronica said touching one of his scars that made his eye-brow slightly crocked, nobody would notice it if they weren't looking. She noticed because it was one of the many scars he had because of her.

"Why do you wait for me every time, when I can't even say the words, I love you? Why am I so special?" She inquired looking at him, "Why do you forgive me so easily?"

Logan took a deep breath, "Because you are the only one who has ever looked at me with potential and have seen me as more than spoiled rich kid. We are perfectly imperfect for each other. You're worth the wait, Veronica, that's why and because I knew you did love me. You just couldn't say it"

She smiled and whispered, "Thank you for waiting."


End file.
